Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1887-03-10
Pompeii-
a WISH TO TIE BURIED CITY
rAPKR READ BEFORE The PORTLAND so,IE-
TY or NAIt RAJ HISTORY
Wm. WOOD, N d.

WIN Wood, NJ. d.
A passage through the solid lava. Of the
stream Of 1924. forty feet high upon either
hand a. AT Tore del Greece. seems 10
make a fitting entrance to the mysteries Of
Pompcii. buried from the knowledge Of The
world in the year ~ OF the present epoch
beneath the ashes and scoria Of Mount
Nesuvius Such WAS the entrance made 10y
a large party II distinguished ladies and
gentlemen. March :, Is, coming by the
sea gate into the straight street OF the
Forum. walking over the very paNcmcnt
which !-0O years ago echoed with the
noise from the traffic and fashion OF gay
and populous city. Now the silence was
almost startling, not sound OF any KIND
to be heard, not q tree or bird 70 he seen.
whilst the numerous street fountains
which look a. if water might have gushcd
from them Yesterday. are all dry. some
Of YOU without doubt have been there and
have been witnesses OF the dcSolaiion that
reipns there Long rows of houses that
have been exhumed and are once more eN-
posed to the light and air of heaven line
the street along which you walk These
at length abruptly terminate in high en-
bsnkment out of which still other houses
are projecting and from above which the
soil. ashes. and pumice have not vet been
removed have also been there and
watched with intense interest the strange
phenomenon of large city being once
more brought out 10 the light of day that
in the midst of its splendpr and IN the
height of its gaiety. was suddenly over
whelmed and buried from sight by vol
canic eruption of cindcr> and ashes. and
that so deeply and thoroughly that all
traces and knowledge OF its existence have
RI q
1900 wears But did not have the facili-
ties for investigation and perhaps you did
not, which this party enjoyed. and We may
be permitted to witness with their eyes
some Of the dramatic scenes which such a
place and such uncommon facilities tor OBJ
servation afford. | may say that Americas ;
favorite and most distinguished poet was
one of the party and that an eminent
Italian. Senator Fiornelli. who had control
of affairs at Pompei, was another. and he
was desirious of making the visit an agree
able one to the whole party great NUM-
ber of objects of much interest had arrest
ed their attention, such as the baths with
all their apartments, the large carthcn
water pipes, and in one, the curved lead
pipe, looking as if thing of yesterday,
the perfect preservation of the large, white
marble baths, the mosaic floors the bright
{
statues. the shops with their large earthcn
lars for oil or wine built into the counters,
the bake houses with their large ovens. 50
like ours of the present day. and the large
grinding stones for the wheat, and many
other objects of equal interest
One of the temples and two or three OF
the houses had had doors and roofs put to
them and within these buildings were
locked some of the disinterred articles
from the houses and the tombS. There
were lamps, vases, pans, kettles ana
bronZes such as had been seen at the muse
um at Naples, but here in addition was
pan in which was cooking small roasting
pig, Of course only the skeleton and
skewers left, and stranger than all the rest
brass kettle that would hold two or three
quarts, taken from a house just excava-
ted This kettle was then two-thirds full
of water, perfectly pure and fresh, with
| neither sediment nor color. 1t was found
on a tripod where it was boiling more than
seventeen centuries ago, the cover fitting
so tightly it had not evaporated in all this
time. Situated as il was, almost II not
| cutie hermetically sealed by the tight MT
| ting cover and the superintendent press
| ure it might be as difficult for water to
| enter as for it to escape by evaporation.
At all events it was regarded by Senator
| Fiornelli to be without doubt the same
water that was boiling for culinary pur-
poses in the year 70, and as such he treas
| ured it with great care, anxious only to
prevent future loss by evaporation, now
| that it had been uncovered.
| After lunch under the open blue sky,
seated upon the marble steps in one of the
! great courts, they were admitted to the
private room containing the last things
| brought to light, where they saw among
other things the little pig and the water
which had been found within the week,
and more than all, after this they enjoyed
the rarer sight of excavations in two differ
| ent houses made especially for this party
"These houses had been previously
| cleared out to depth of three to five feet,
| over which grass or weeds had grown. Be
| ginning with their pickaxes at the en-
| trance, another man stands by with
| shovel, with which he breaks up and
shoyels off the gritty, coarse kind of earth
A man in uniform stands by and every new
shovelful is scrutinized with closest care
| If ANYTHING appears in sight, the plckaxe
is laid down and the earth removed care
fully with the hands. Thus uncovered it
waits for higher official to see and direct
its being taken up.
"In the first house very soon human
homes came to view, which were carefully
collected and in short time the skull,
etc. and by the teeth DIR. b. proclaimed
the age of the individual TO be sixteen.
There was hardly room for all to watch
the digging here, and four of us were
looking through hole in the wall OF the
adjoining house when Senator Fiornelil
came to us and said if we would go to
another place he would send men to open
there for us, and we quickly followed the